2014 LR4 Test Drive Review - LR4 1st Drive

[mbw]

Im wondering though how it does under longer term stresses. Like you said, you actually kept stuff on it for longer. Just because it can hold a bunch of people for a picture doesnt make it perfect. It's good to know that it will sag if you do certain things with it.

I have been asking around (expo portal, etc) about what people think about the voyager and if it would be a solid choice for a roof top tent. I wonder about the side to side loading and such.

 

[Finlayforprez]

Im wondering though how it does under longer term stresses. Like you said, you actually kept stuff on it for longer. Just because it can hold a bunch of people for a picture doesnt make it perfect. It's good to know that it will sag if you do certain things with it.

I have been asking around (expo portal, etc) about what people think about the voyager and if it would be a solid choice for a roof top tent. I wonder about the side to side loading and such.

That's a great question and I guess that was what I was getting at in my comments. I had a similar load on the Voyager for a while and now on the Urban Offroad - it could just be the way things are distributed, but my Urban Offroad rack seemed like it did not sag as much when I walked on it (along with the weight there) or in general. I know with a similar load (minus the 48" Hi Lift jack on it now), the Voyager was about 1/2" from the glass, where as my Urban Offroad is at least 1" or more (above and beyond the increase in weight sitting on the full-length rails).

I probably should take some crap off sometimes, as maybe it's a bit too much load up there full time. I leave a lot of crap up there all the time.

-David

 

[epiclr4]

2014 LR4 - 2nd Test Drive

So, I was able to take the 2014 LR4 out for an overnight test drive for a couple of reasons:

1) Wanted to Make 100% sure that this was the vehicle for me
2) Make sure the better half liked it and was okay driving it
3) Spend some more time driving it in terms of a normal day - Drive home from work, Drive to the gym, Drive to the office and then this afternoon I will be taking it back.

Overall Vehicle Review:

This will just build from my original post. Overall I think the vehicle rides very well for what it is. I do think at times the suspension is a little soft in turns and you get that swaying body feel. The cabin can get noisy when on deteriorating pavement. But overall it is a great vehicle and I will be discussing details of probably having to order one this evening when I return it to the dealership and talking financials.

Better Half Review:

I think it is a female thing to enjoy sitting up high when driving and she loved it! In comparison to her X5 she enjoyed the drive and felt like the vehicle was comfortable and the seats were supportive. Found it entertaining how much taller the LR4 is in comparison to the X5. Of course the LR4 doesn't have the sporty ride of the X5 or the grunt (5.0).

Other Topics:

I know Dan has been asking lots of questions about a couple things that I didn't play with when I test drove the vehicle the first time so since I had more time this go round I decided to play a little bit.

Navigation

I didn't actually put a destination into the system but I played with it and it seems fairly responsive. I liked the different screen views as well as when on the interstate you are able to view future exits and it shows little icons, actual pictures of the signs, as to what will be on that exit. After looking at the destination entry options I have a couple questions.

1) I think I read somewhere that you are not able to input destination changes while moving? Can you do it by voice command?
2) Can you search for POI while driving?
3) Can you set multiple points along a route?

Voice Control

I played with this functionality and actually found it to be quite nice. Little too simplified by the step by step speech but the functionality was good and I could see how once you memorize the screens/steps you could do things fairly effectively without touching anything on the touch screen. This is good for me as I hate touch screens.

Head Lights

I will admit that I love BMW head lights. They are by far the best head lights in any vehicle I have driven. So when getting in the LR4 I was hoping they would be close. I was let down that they were not. I would put them above my Jeep Wrangler but no where near the realm of BMW. The light is very inconsistent and had weird cutoff lines with spotty patterns. Very let down.

1) Are the adaptive headlights any better than the regular ones? I am now considering the vision asst. package if someone can tell me they are better.

Heated Windshield

I think if this was just an option I would leave it off the vehicle. I find that at night it makes every light that comes towards you a giant blurred light. Especially if there is rain coming down. I am hoping that it is worth its weight in gold when there is a sheet of ice on the windshield. Else I would try to go without if possible.

I think this is all, I tried to hit a couple more items that people had questions about. If I missed something feel free to ask and I will test it out on the way back to the dealership this evening.

 

[umbertob]

Regarding navigation, it is possible to enter a destination, search for POIs or set multiple waypoints with the vehicle in motion, the functionality is no different than when you are parked (unless they changed it for 2014, but I doubt it.) I use voice commands to enter addresses whenever I am on the go, it's a bit slow and chatty like you pointed out, but safer than punching letters and numbers on the touchscreen.

I love the LR4's high-intensity discharge headlights, I think they are phenomenally good and way better than any other car I have owned in the past, including my 2006 Sport which also had excellent HIDs. So, either the headlight clusters have been modified for the worse in 2014 - someone else reported they no longer have fill-in halogen high beams to supplement the xenons, so that may be the case - or something may have been wrong / misaligned in your loaner. I have adaptive headlights, but all that does is swiveling the HIDs left or right when steering - not very much to be honest, adaptive headlights have always seemed a bit gimmicky to me - the headlight clusters are otherwise identical. Your loaner had xenons, I am sure? Huge difference between halogens and HIDs.

The heated windshield is an acquired taste, I guess. The filaments sandwiched in the glass panes bothered me for about 5 minutes when I purchased my first Land Rover with this type of windshield back in 2005, then my eyes kinda trained themselves to focus beyond. I don't notice those lines at all anymore, day or night, rain or no rain. I have used the defrost function maybe twice (in Southern California, not too many chances to defrost anything here unless it's in the fridge...), it worked great.

 

[Finlayforprez]

Regarding navigation, it is possible to enter a destination, search for POIs or set multiple waypoints with the vehicle in motion, the functionality is no different than when you are parked (unless they changed it for 2014, but I doubt it.) I use voice commands to enter addresses whenever I am on the go, it's a bit slow and chatty like you pointed out, but safer than punching letters and numbers on the touchscreen.

I love my LR4 headlights, I think they are phenomenally good and way better than any other car I have owned in the past, including my 2006 Sport which also had excellent HIDs. So, either the headlight clusters have been modified for the worse in 2014 - someone else reported they no longer have fill-in halogen high beams to supplement the xenons, so that may be the case - or something may have been wrong / misaligned in your loaner. I have adaptive headlights, but all that does is swiveling the HIDs left or right when steering - not very much to be honest, adaptive headlights have always seemed a bit gimmicky to me - the headlight clusters are otherwise identical.

The heated windshield is an acquired taste, I guess. The filaments sandwiched in the glass panes bothered me for about 5 minutes when I purchased my first Land Rover with this windshield back in 2005, then my eyes kinda trained themselves to focus beyond. I don't notice those lines at all anymore, day or night, rain or no rain. I have used the defrost function maybe twice (in Southern California, not too many chances to defrost anything here...), it worked great.

I have to agree with Umberto on the headlights - they are awesome. I do not have the Vision Assist package, but I have the Lux model so I have the HID lights. I had HID lights on my previous ML, drove my friend's X5 on a short road trip at night, and I have to say that I like the lighting on my LR4 the best. It definitely produces great light output.

Maybe this is because of the changes with the 2014? Hopefully it's just something with your loaner and not a negative change.

 

[danrhiggins]

Thanks, epiclr!

So, I was able to take the 2014 LR4 out for an overnight test drive for a couple of reasons:

1) Wanted to Make 100% sure that this was the vehicle for me
2) Make sure the better half liked it and was okay driving it
3) Spend some more time driving it in terms of a normal day - Drive home from work, Drive to the gym, Drive to the office and then this afternoon I will be taking it back.

Overall Vehicle Review:

This will just build from my original post. Overall I think the vehicle rides very well for what it is. I do think at times the suspension is a little soft in turns and you get that swaying body feel. The cabin can get noisy when on deteriorating pavement. But overall it is a great vehicle and I will be discussing details of probably having to order one this evening when I return it to the dealership and talking financials.

Better Half Review:

I think it is a female thing to enjoy sitting up high when driving and she loved it! In comparison to her X5 she enjoyed the drive and felt like the vehicle was comfortable and the seats were supportive. Found it entertaining how much taller the LR4 is in comparison to the X5. Of course the LR4 doesn't have the sporty ride of the X5 or the grunt (5.0).

Other Topics:

I know Dan has been asking lots of questions about a couple things that I didn't play with when I test drove the vehicle the first time so since I had more time this go round I decided to play a little bit.

LOL! My wife is the same way. Her first priority on a vehicle is the height of the seat. With our '14 MDX the went to the car-like, couch-like seats and she uses a small booster pillow as a booster. I haven't taken her for a test drive yet as she is out of the country on a medical service trip but when she returns we will do so and the first thing she will check is the height of both front seats. She currently drives a Honda CRV so I don't think driving dynamics will be an issue. The size of the vehicle may be but she has driven a Land Cruiser in the past and I believe this is better.

Navigation

I didn't actually put a destination into the system but I played with it and it seems fairly responsive. I liked the different screen views as well as when on the interstate you are able to view future exits and it shows little icons, actual pictures of the signs, as to what will be on that exit. After looking at the destination entry options I have a couple questions.

I did enter a destination in the Nav system the other night (on a stationary vehicle in the showroom!) and it was not a lot different than most of these systems. I do like that you can enter a zip code and it will locate a position in the middle of the zip. I often use the Nav on long trips to estimate how long/far to a particular city but I don't have an address for that city. Some Nav systems can't handle this.

1) I think I read somewhere that you are not able to input destination changes while moving? Can you do it by voice command?
2) Can you search for POI while driving?
3) Can you set multiple points along a route?

Re: #1, this has been a big point of discussion with the Nav system on my MDX. But at the end of the day I believe it is a legal issue. As much as we don't like it, all it takes is one law suit where someone argues that this is distracted driving. So they disable much of the Nav capabilities while the vehicle is moving. I haven't tested it yet. Using Voice would be great. I believe "navigation" is one of the Voice Command options but I didn't test.

I, too, would like to set multiple points on a route and be able to view time/distance for each. I'll need to check this out.

Voice Control

I played with this functionality and actually found it to be quite nice. Little too simplified by the step by step speech but the functionality was good and I could see how once you memorize the screens/steps you could do things fairly effectively without touching anything on the touch screen. This is good for me as I hate touch screens.

I, too, hate touch screens though the one in the LR4 isn't as bad as the one in my MDX. Voice Command can be a cumbersome alternative (having a conversation with your car and need to make the passengers keep quiet while you do so). So I use it less and less. But for some things it is adequate and after playing a bit with the one in the stationary LR4 it was OK.

Head Lights

I will admit that I love BMW head lights. They are by far the best head lights in any vehicle I have driven. So when getting in the LR4 I was hoping they would be close. I was let down that they were not. I would put them above my Jeep Wrangler but no where near the realm of BMW. The light is very inconsistent and had weird cutoff lines with spotty patterns. Very let down.

My MDX headlights are the all-LED ones. Very bright where they shine but a very sharp, horizontal cutoff. Not adaptive. I had adaptive headlights on my previous Lexus. They were good but not necessarily great. I did like the auto high beams on my Lexus. More effective and useful than I would have thought. I miss them on my MDX.

1) Are the adaptive headlights any better than the regular ones? I am now considering the vision asst. package if someone can tell me they are better.

Heated Windshield

I think if this was just an option I would leave it off the vehicle. I find that at night it makes every light that comes towards you a giant blurred light. Especially if there is rain coming down. I am hoping that it is worth its weight in gold when there is a sheet of ice on the windshield. Else I would try to go without if possible.

I'm with you. I which I could get the climate package without the heated windshield. I may need to have someone throw a big rock at my windshield then see if I can replace it with a non-heated one. ;-)

I think this is all, I tried to hit a couple more items that people had questions about. If I missed something feel free to ask and I will test it out on the way back to the dealership this evening.

Would love to hear how it goes tonight or whenever you settle! And if you are willing what you are seeing in the financials. I am a bit behind you. I need a long test drive. Then a better-half drive/review which won't happen for a couple of weeks. I also want to evaluate 3 possible dealers in the area. I am going to shoot for the Lux model with Climate, Vision, Heavy Duty and "Black" package. Due to a "gift" from my father I can do cash or finance and have my '14 MDX as a possible trade. So I need to understand which approach will get me the best financials. (I am not a financials guy - I'm a computer systems guy.)

 

[epiclr4]

Black Package

I know a few people here have gotten the black package. Which one did you go with? 19" or 20"??

 

[umbertob]

19", because my plan from the beginning was to take off the factory wheels and go with 18" Compo rims. I also like the marginally more comfortable ride the extra rubber on the 19" tires affords compared to the low profile 20s. The 20s look good, but not $1500-2000 good (the difference between the cost of the two packs) IMHO.

 

[epiclr4]

19", because my plan from the beginning was to take off the factory wheels and go with 18" Compo rims. I also like the marginally more comfortable ride the extra rubber on the 19" tires affords compared to the low profile 20s.

I agree, plus I don't want to spend the extra money on the 20's as this is my goal as well. I was wondering mostly what you and Finz got or anyone else.

 

[Finlayforprez]

I agree, plus I don't want to spend the extra money on the 20's as this is my goal as well. I was wondering mostly what you and Finz got or anyone else.

I agree completely with Umberto, I went with the 19" wheel black-design package because I knew I would be switching to 18" wheels. I personally don't like the 20" wheels, so I wouldn't get them even if I was sticking to stock wheels. I had the 19" wheels for a few months, but immediately switched out the stock tires for Cooper Zeon LTZs right after I took delivery.